This Application is a U.S. National Phase Application of PCT International Application PCT/JP2006/309632.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image display device with a plasma display panel.
2. Background Art
Plasma display panels (hereinafter, abbreviated as “panels”) expanding market size rapidly in recent years are display devices with the advantages of being large, thin, lightweight, and highly visible. The panels, however, are low in emission efficiency, so that various techniques are being developed to improve emission efficiency and to reduce power consumption.
As an example to improve emission efficiency and hence to reduce power consumption by devising a method of driving the panel, the following display device has been developed which includes a first drive part and a second drive part. The first drive part generates a first discharge in a plurality of discharge cells in the display panel by applying a drive pulse to the discharge cells. The second drive part generates a second discharge subsequent to the first discharge by applying a current from a power supply to the discharge cells so as to increase the voltage of the drive pulse which has been decreased along with the first discharge.
In this display device, the first discharge is supplied with minimum electric power necessary for the discharge, so that when the first discharge begins to weaken, the current supply can be limited to reduce ultraviolet saturation, thereby improving the emission efficiency in the first discharge. As a result, the first discharge is generated to have high emission efficiency and is followed by the second discharge in all the discharge cells to be turned on, thereby improving the emission efficiency of the discharge cells. The technical contents are disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3242096.
However, these consecutive discharges, especially the first discharge, are susceptible to the characteristics and conditions of discharge of each discharge cell and to variations in the component properties of the driving circuits. This makes it uneasy to stably generate the two discharges in all the discharge cells.